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li_U    IIIIII.6 


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Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

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Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibiiographiques 


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Couverture  endommagie 

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This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film6  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu(ft  ci-dessous. 

14X  18X  22X 


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The  copy  film«d  hers  has  b««n  raproducsd  thanks 
to  tha  ganarosity  of: 

Legislature  du  Quebec 
Quibec 


L'axamplaira  film*  fut  raproduit  grAca  A  la 
ginirositA  da: 

Legislature  du  Quibec 
Quebec 


Tha  imagas  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  boat  quality 
posaibia  ccnaidaring  tha  condition  and  lagibiiity 
of  tha  origfnai  copy  and  in  Icaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  apacificationa. 


Original  copias  in  printad  papar  covara  ara  filmad 
beginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  ending  on 
tha  last  page  with  a  printad  or  illuatratad  impraa- 
sion,  or  tha  back  covar  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copias  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printad  or  illustrated  imprea- 
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or  illustrated  impression. 


The  Iaat  racordad  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  — <*-  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

IVIaps.  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
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entirely  included  in  one  expoaura  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  aa  many  framea  aa 
required.  The  following  diagrama  illuatrate  the 
method: 


Lea  imagea  suivantea  ont  «t«  raproduites  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tenu  de  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattetA  de  rexemplaire  film*,  et  en 
conformitA  avac  lea  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filnsaga. 

iM  exemplairea  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  eat  imprimte  sont  filmte  en  commenpant 
par  la  premier  plat  at  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
darni^re  page  qui  comporto  une  amprainte 
d'impression  ou  d'iliustration,  soit  par  la  second 
plat,  salon  la  caa.  Toua  lea  autrea  exemplairea 
originaux  sont  fiimis  en  commen^ant  par  la 
pramlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impreaaion  ou  d'iliustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  damiAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  dee  symboles  suivants  apparaltra  sur  la 
darniAre  image  de  chaqtia  microfiche,  seion  le 
cas:  le  symbols  —»>  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbols  y  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartea,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
filmAa  A  dee  taux  de  rAduction  diff Arents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seui  clichA,  ii  est  filmA  A  partir 
de  I'angle  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  droite. 
et  de  haut  en  baa,  an  prenant  la  nombre 
d'imagea  nAcaasaira.  Las  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrant  la  mAthode. 


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THE 


// 


CARTOGRAPHICAL  HISTORY 


\ 


OF    THE 


NORTH-EASTERN   BOUNDARY  CONTROVERSY 


BETWEEN    THE 


UNITED   STATES  AND   GREAT  BRITAIN. 


By    JUSTIK   WIKSOK. 


Privately  REmiNTED,  Seventy-five  Copies,  from  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  October,  1887. 


CAMBRIDGE : 

JOHN    WILSON    AND    SON. 
Satntbcvsfts  JJtess. 
1887. 


* 

--*l 


NORTH-EASTERN  BOUNDARY  CONTROVERSY. 


Mr.  WiNSOR  drew  attention  to  a  manuscript  statement 
(l)elonging  to  the  Society)  of  the  reasons  which  induced 
the  Commissioners  under  Jay's  Treaty  to  decide  that  the 
Schoodiac  River  was  the  St.  Croix  of  the  Treaty  of  1783. 
The  award  or  "  declaration  "  of  the  Commissioners  had  been 
several  times  printed ;  ^  but  Mr.  Winsor  could  not  find  that 
this  exposition  as  drawn  up  by  Egbert  Benson,  the  Ameri- 
can Commissioner,  had  ever  been  given  to  the  public.  The 
manuscript  has  four  well-executed  copies  of  maps  attached : 
(1)  Champlain's  map  of  St.  Croix  Island ;  (2)  a  modern  survey 
of  Bone  or  Douchet  Island,  identified  as  Champlain's  St.  Croix 
Island ;  (3)  a  section  of  Mitchell's  map  of  1755  used  by  the 
Commissioners  in  1783;  (4)  a  modern  survey  of  Passama- 
quoddy  Bay.  Champlain's  map  is  well  known,  though  Mr. 
Benson  says  that  the  Commissioners  were  obliged  to  send  to 
Europe  for  a  copy  of  the  "  Voyages  "  of  1613,  which  contains 
it.2     Mr.  Winsor  said  that  he  visited  the  island  in  question  a 

1  U.  S.  Ho.  of  Rep.  Ex.  Doc.  No.  31,  27th  Cong.  3d  sess.  note  ii. ;  Atcheson's 
American  Encroachments,  London,  1808 ;  and  elsewliere. 

'•^  There  are  copies  of  the  book  now  in  the  Library  of  this  Society,  and  in  sev- 
eral of  tlie  important  American  libraries.  A  good  copy  is  worth  from  $100 
to  .?160  at  the  present  time.  The  map  is  easily  found  at  this  day  in  the  modem 
reprints  and  translations  of  Champlain,  in  the  "  Narrative  and  Critical  History  of 
America  "  (vol.  iv.  p.  137),  etc.  T.  C.  Aniory  ,  imes  Sullivan,  vol.  i.  p.  322)  says 
that  "  Colonel  Pickering  procured  for  Sullivan  [the  Aniericnn  agent]  many  valu- 
able books,  and  among  others,  after  sending  for  them  without  success  to  Europe, 
borrowed  from  the  library  of  Jefferson  copies  of  Champlain  and  Lescaf bat. 


T 


few  years  since,  but  he  could  find  no  traces  of  the  foundations 
of  the  buildings  mentioned  by  Mr.  Benson,  and  he  learned 
that  the  stone  had  been  taken  for  building  purposes,  and  was 
very  likely  worked  into  the  foundations  of  the  cottage,  now 
on  the  island,  which  carries  a  coast-lantern  of  the  United 
States  on  its  roof.  Mitchell's  map  is  well  known;  and  fac- 
similes of  it  were  given  in  Gallatin's  "Northeastern  Boun- 
dary" (1840),  in  "Mass.  Doc.  Mar.  1838,  No.  67,"  and  in 
other  places. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  argument  in  the  main  followed 
by  the  Commissioners  is  this  :  Mitchell's  map  is  so  inaccurately 
drawn  that  the  evidence  deducible  from  it  must  be  consid- 
ered defective  in  every  way.  This  postulate  threw  out  of  con- 
sideration the  surmise  that  on  Mitchell's  map  the  most  east- 
erly of  the  rivers  flowing  into  the  Passamaquoddy  Bay  and 
marked  "  St.  Croix,"  was  the  real  easterly  river,  known  as 
the  Magaguadavic,  which  was  the  river  contended  for  by  the 
Americans.  This  left  the  question  to  be  settled  by  the  de- 
termination of  what  was  the  original  St.  Croix  of  Champlain's 
party.  The  statement  of  Mr.  Benson,  which  here  follows, 
shows  the  arguments  in  favor  of  considering  Bone  or  Douchet 
Island  as  the  island  occupied  by  Champlain. 

A  manuscript  statement  of  the  controversy  between  the  United  States 
of  America  and  Great  Britain  in  regard  to  the  eastern  boundary  of 
the  former  in  the  year  1796,  by  the  hon"^-!?  Egbert  Benson  one  of  the 
commissioners  :  presented  to  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  by 
the  Author,  through  the  hands  of  His  Excellency  Governor  Strong, 

Anno  1802. 

Benson    "^ 

Barclay  >   commissioners. 

Howell  J 

James  Sullivan  American  Agent 

Ward  Chipman  British  Agent. 

On  the  Question  between  His  Britannic  Majesty  and  the  United 
States  of  America,  "  What  River  was  truly  intended,  under  the  Name 
of  the  River  S!  Croix,  mentioned  in  the  Treaty  of  Peace  of  the  3f  Nov' 


4 


HMi 


■HI 


T 


1783,  and  forming  a  part  of  the  Boundary  therein  described?"  referred 
to  the  final  Decision  of  Commissioners  by  the  5»!»  Article  of  the  Treaty 
of  Amity,  Commerce,  and  Navigation  of  the  19'Y  Nov^  1794. 

The  Scudiac  claimed  on  the  part  of  His  Majesty,  and  the  Maga- 
guadavic  on  the  part  of  the  United  States. 

Boundaries  of  the  United  States  as  described  in  the  Treaty  of  1783 -— 
♦'  From  the  north  west  Angle  of  Nova  Scotia  viz^  that  Angle  which  is 
formed  by  a  Line  drawn  due  North  from  the  Source  of  S\  Croix 
River  to  the  Highlands,  along  the  said  Highlands  which  divide  those 
Rivers  that  empty  themselves  into  the  River  S^  Lawrence  from  those 
which  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  "—  then  follow  the  Northern,  Western 
and  Southern  Boundaries,  and  then  — "East  by  a  Line  to  be  drawn 
along  the  Middle  of  the  River  S]  Croix  from  its  Mouth  in  the  Bay  of 
Fundy  to  its  Source  and  from  its  Source  directly  north  to  the  aforesaid 
Highlands  which  divide  the  Rivers  that  fall  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
from  those  whicli  fall  into  the  River  S^  Lawrence." 

Boundaries  of  Nova  Scotia  in  the  Grant  from  King  James  to  Sir 
William  Alexander  of  the  lO'l*  Sep^  1621,  translated  from  the  Latin  — 
"  All  and  singular  the  Lands  Continents  and  Islands  situate  in  America 
within  the  Iieadland  or  Promontory  called  Cape  Sable  lying  near  the 
Latitude  of  forty  three  Degrees  or  thereabout  from  the  Equinoctial 
Line  towards  the  north  from  which  Promontory  stretching  towards  the 
Shore  of  the  Sea  to  the  west  to  a  Bay  commonly  called  S^  Mary's  Bay 
and  then  towards  the  north  by  a  direct  Line  passing  the  Entrance  or 
Mouth  of  that  great  Bay  which  runs  into  the  eastern  Quarter  between 
the  Territories  of  the  Souriguois  and  Etchemins  to  a  River  commonly 
called  by  the  Name  of  S\  Croix  and  to  the  most  remote  Spring  or 
Fountain  thereof  from  the  western  Quarter  which  first  mingles  itself 
with  the  aforesaid  River  thence  by  an  imaginary  direct  Line  which 
may  be  conceived  to  go  through  the  Land  or  run  towards  the  north  to 
the  nearest  Bay  River  or  Spring  discharging  itself  into  the  Great  River 
of  Canada  &ct  «fec»  &ct  which  certain  Lands  shall  in  all  future  times 
enjoy  the  Name  of  Nova  Scotia  in  America." 

A  variance  will  be  perceived  between  the  Description  of  i\iQ  Sides 
of  the  north  west  Angle  of  Nova  Scotia  as  originally  contained  in  the 
Grant  of  1621  and  as  subsequently  found  in  the  Treaty  of  1783,  it  may 
not  be  useless  therefore  previously  to  mention  —  that  Canada  was 
shortly  after  the  final  Cession  of  it  by  France  to  Great  Britain  in  1763, 
"  erected  into  a  district  and  separate  Government,  stiled  and  called  by 
the  Name  of  Quebec,  bounded  on  the  Labrador  Coast  by  the  River 
S!  John  and  from  thence  by  a  Line  from  the  Head  of  that  River  through 
the  Luke  S^  John  to  the  south  end  of  the  Lake  Nipissim  from  whence 
the  said  Line,  crossing  the  River  S!  Lawrence  and  the  J^ake  Cham- 
plain   in   45   degrees  of  north  Latitude,  passes  along  the  Highlands 


6 


which  divide  the   Rivers  that  empty  themselves  into  the  said  River 

S!  Lawrence   from    those   which  fall  into   the   Sea   &c"  &c^   «fec? 

that  Nova  Scotia  was  thereupon  in  the  Commissions  to  the  Governors, 
bounded  on  the  westward  by  a  Line  drawn  from  Cape  Sable  across  the 
Entrance  of  the  IJay  of  Fundy  to  the  Mouth  of  the  River  S^  Croix,  by 
the  said  River  to  it's  Source,  and  by  a  Line  drawn  due  north  from 
thence  to  the  southern  Boundary  of  the  Colony  of  Quebec,  to  the  north- 
ward by  the  said  Boundary  Ac"!  &c»  &cV'  — and  that  hence  it  is,  that, 
at  the  time  of  the  Treaty  of  1783,  the  Hiyhlands  instead  of  the  Eiver 
S':  Lawrence  formed  the  north  side,  and  a  Line  directlj/  north,  or  due 
north,  the  west  side,  of  the  7iorth  west  Angle  of  Nova  Scotia ;  and  also 
that  the  Source  of  the  River  S!  Croix,  from  which  the  Line  was  to  be 
drawn,  was  the  Source  generally,  regardless  of  the  Position  of  it,  or  the 
Place,  or  Quarter  whether  western  or  not,  or  the  Distance,  whether 
most  remote  or  not  when  compared  with  any  other  Source,  before  the 
Waters  from  it  mingled  themselves  with  the  River. 

It  is  now  to  be  stated  that  the  River  is  described  or  expressed  in  the 
Treaty  of  1783,  as  "  that  River  a  Line  drawn  due  north  from  the  Source 
of  which  forms  the  west  side  of  the  north  west  Angle  of  Nova  Scotia  ; " 
and  that  the  following  Points  are  assumed  as  being  unquestionable. 
I'l  That  the  River  was  not  expressed  as  it  is,  either  by  Mistake  or 
Fraud  —  2"^''  That  the  River  expressed  must  therefore  be  adjudged  to 
be  the  River  intended ~  3^}^  That  the  River  expressed  in  the  Treaty 
of  1783,  and  the  River  expressed  in  the  Grant  for  Nova  Scotia,  are  the 
same  River ;  and  4'i^  That  consequently,  the  River,  to  be  souj^ht  for, 
must  be  the  River  intended  in  the  Grant ;  the  following  Proposition  of 
Fact  is  therefore  advanced,  and  the  Proofs  subjoined,  viz^,  That  the 
French  Colonists,  in  1604,  named  a  certain  Island,  lying  in  what  is 
properly  an  Arm  of  the  Bay  of  Passamaquaddy,  but  by  them  consid- 
ered, and  accordingly  denominated  Biver,  the  Island  of  S',  Croix  ;  that 
the  Name  was  almost  instantly  applied  indiscriminately  as  well  to  the 
Hiver  as  to  the  Island;  that  the  Biver  is  the  same  River  intended  under 
that  Name  in  the  Grant  for  Nova  Scotia  ;  and  when  distinguished  by  it's 
supposed  Indian  Name,  and  by  which  it  is  more  generally  known,  is 
called  the  Scudiac. 

Extracts  from  a  Publication  by  Sir  William  Alexander  in  London  in 
1624  under  the  Title  of  Encouragement  to  Colonies — "Monsieur  De 
Montes  procuring  a  Patent,  from  King  Henry  the  fourth,  of  Canada 
from  the  40'."  Degree  eastward,  comprehending  all  the  Bounds  that 
now  is  between  New  England  and  New  Scotland,  (after  that  Queen 
Elizabeth  had  formerly  given  one  thereof  as  belonging  to  this  Crown 
by  Chabot's  Discoverie)  did  set  forth  with  a  hundred  Persons  fitted  for 
a  Plantation,  carried  in  two  Ships"  — after  a  brief  Relation  of  the 
Voyage  from  France  to  Port  Royal  he  proceeds  —  "  After  having  seen 


Port  Royal  they  went  to  the  River  called  by  them  Sainte  Croix,  but 
more  fit  now  to  be  called  Tweede,  because  it  divides  New  England 
and  New  Scotland,  bounding  the  one  of  them  upon  the  East,  and  the 
other  upon  the  west,  side  thereof;  here  they  made  Choice  of  an  Isle 
that  is  within  the  Middle  of  the  same,  where  to  winter,  building  Houses 
sufficient  to  lodge  their  Number  "  —  he  concludes  his  Relation  by  men- 
tioning — "  that  in  the  End,  finding  that  a  little  Isle  was  but  a  large 
Prison,  they  resolved  to  return  unto  Port  Royal "  —  speaking  of  the 
Limits  of  his  Patent  he  says  —  "  leaving  the  Limits  to  be  appointed  by 
his  IVIajestie's  Pleasure,  which  are  expressed  in  the  Patent  granted 
unto  Me  under  his  Great  Scale  of  his  Kingdom  of  Scotland,  marching 
upon  the  west  towardes  the  River  of  Saint  Croix,  now  Tweed  (where 
the  Frenchmen  did  designe  their  first  Habitation)  with  New-England; 
and  on  all  other  parts  it  is  compassed  by  the  Ocean  and  the  Great 
River  of  Canada"  —  to  this  Publication  a  Map  is  annexed,  in  which  a 
River  is  laid  down,  under  the  Name  of  Tweede,  as  a  Boundary  between 
New  England  and  New  Scotland,  and  doubtless  intended  to  represent 
the  *S*  Croix. 

The  "Voyage  of  De  Monts,  above  referred  to  by  Sir  William  Alex- 
ander, was  in  the  Spring  of  1604,  and  has  been  written  by  two  different 
coteraporary  Persons,  Champlain,  who  was  with  him,  and  L'Escarbot, 
who  came  out  to  La  Cadie  in  1606  with  Pourtrincourt,  when  he  re- 
turned to  succeed  De  Monts  in  the  Attempt  to  colonise,  and  was  him- 
self the  next  Year  at  S\  Croix  —  The  British  Commissaries,  in  the 
Memorials  between  them  and  the  French  Commissaries,  concerning  the 
Limits  of  Nova  Scotia  or  Acadia,  printed  in  London  in  1755,  say, 
*'  the  most  ancient  Chart  extant,  of  this  Country,  is  that  which  Escarbot 
published  with  his  History  in  1609  ;"  and  a  Book  published  in  London 
that  Year  by  P.  Erondelle,  under  the  Title  of  Nova  Francia  ^-e^  trans- 
lated out  of  the  French  into  English,  is  evidently  a  Translation  of  this 
first  Edition  of  L'Escarbot—  Champlain  published  in  1613— From 
these  writers  therefore  undoubtedly  Sir  William  Alexander  obtained 
his  Information  of  the  Voyage  of  De  Monts,  and  of  the  Country  — 
They  relate  that  De  Monts,  after  visiting  several  Places  on  the  eastern 
Shore  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  and  among  them  the  Bay  of  S*  Mary  and 
Port  Royal,  came,  on  the  24',"  June,  to  the  River  S\  John ;  and  the 
following  Extracts  from  them,  translated  from  the  French,  contain 
the  Voyage  thence,  and  other  subsequent  Transactions  material  in 
the  present  Enquiry  — 

CAamyam  — Edit:  1613  — "From  the  River  S^  John  we  were  at 
four  Islands,  on  one  of  which  we  were  ashore,  and  there  found  a  great 
Abundance  of  Birds,  called  Margos,  of  which  we  took  a  number  of 
young  ones  as  good  as  young  Pigeons.  The  Sieur  Poutrincourt  was 
nearly  losing  himself  there,  but  finally  returned  to  our  Bark  as  we  were 


8 


going  to  search  for  him  round  the  Island,  which  is  three  Leagues  dis- 
Tant  from  the  Main  Land.     Further  to  the  west  are  other  Istands;  one 
containing  six  Leagues  called  by  the  Savages  Manthane,  to  the  south 
of  which  there  are  among  the  Islands  many  good  Ports  for  Vessels. 
From  the  Isles  of  Margos  we  were  at  a  River  in  the  mam  Land  callea 
the  River  of  the  JUtchemins,  a  Nation  of  Savages  so  named  m  their  own 
Country;  and  we  passed  by  a  great  Number  of  Islands,  more  than  we 
could   count,  pleasant  enough,  containing  some  two  Leagues,  others 
three,  others  more  or  less.     All  these  Islands  are  in  a  Bay,  which  con- 
tains,  in  my  Judgment,  more  than  fifteen  Leagues  in  Circumference  ; 
in  which  there  are  a  number  of  convenient  Places  to  put  as  great  a 
number  of  Vessels  as  one  pleases;  which  in  their  Season  abound  in 
Fish  such  as  Cod,  Salmon,  Bass,  Herring,  Holibut,  and  other  I?  ish,  m 
great  Number.     Making  west  north  west,  through  these  Islands,  we 
entered  into  a  large  River,  which  is  almost  half  a  League  broad  at  it  3 
Entrance,  where,  having  made  a  League  or  two,  we  found  two  Islands, 
the  one  very  small  near  the  Shore  on  the  west,  the  other  in  the  Middle, 
which  may  have  eight  or  nine  hundred  Paces  in  Circumference;  the 
Banks  of  which  are  rocky  and  three  or  fourToises  high,  except  a  small 
Place  a  Point  of  Sand  and  C%,  which  may  serve  to  make  Bricks  and 
other  necessary  things.     There  is  another  sheltered  Place  to  put  Ves- 
sels  from  eighty  to  one  hundred  Tons,  but  it  is  dry  at  low  water.     Ihe 
Island  is  filled  with  Firs,  Birches,  Maples,  and  Oaks.     Of  itself  it  is  in 
a  good  Situation ;  and  there  is  only  one  side,  where  it  slopes  about 
forty  paces,  which  is  easy  to  be  fortified,  the  Shores  of  the  ilfam  Land 
being  distant  on  each  Side  about  nine  hundred  or  a  thousand  Paces. 
Vessels  cannot  pass  on  the  River  but  at  the  Mercy  of  the  Cannon  on 
the  Islands  ;  which  is  the  place  we  judged  best,  as  well  for  the  Situa- 
tion, the  Goodness  of  the  Country,  as  for  the  Communication  we  pro- 
posed to  have  with  the  Savages  of  the  Coasts  and  the  interior  Country  ; 
being  in  the  Midst  of  them.     This  place  is  named  by  the  Name  of  the 
Island  Saint  Croix.     Passing  higher  up  one  sees  a  great  Ba^m  which 
there  are  two  Islands,  the  one  high,  the  other  low,  and  three  Rivers,  two 
of  a  middling  Size,  one  going  towards  the  east,  and  the  other  to  the 
north,  and  the  third  is  large,  which  goes  to  the  west.     This  is  that  of 
the  Etchemins  of  which  we  have  spoken  above.     Going  into  it  two 
Leaques,  there  is  a  Fall  of  Water,  where  the  Savages  carry   their 
Canoes  by  Land  about  five  hundred  Paces,  afterwards  re-entring  it, 
from  which,  afterwards,  crossing  over  a  small  Space  of  Land  one  goes 
into  the  River  Norembeque  and  of  S^  John.     In  this  place  of  the  1  all, 
which  the  Vessels  cannot  pass  because  there  is  nothing  but  Rocks  and 
because  that  there  is  no  more  than  four  or  five  feet  Water,  in  May  and 
June  they  take  as  great  Abundance  of  Bass  and  Herrings  as  they  can 
lade  in  their  Vessels.     The  Soil  is  very  fine,  and  there  are  about  fifteen 


f 


<,( 


9 


or  twenty  Acres  of  Laud  cleared,  where  the  Sieur  De  Monts  sowed 
some  Grain  which  came  up  very  well.  The  Savages  stay  here  some 
times  five  or  six  Weeks  during  the  fishing  Season.  All  the  rest  of  the 
Country  is  a  very  thick  Forest.  If  the  Land  was  cleared  Grain  would 
grow  there  very  well.  This  place  is  in  forty  five  Degrees  and  one 
third  Latitude,  and  the  Variation  of  the  Magnetic  Needle  is  seventeen 
Degrees  and  thirty  two  minutes  .  .  .  Not  having  found  a  place  more 
fit  than  this  Island,  we  began  to  make  a  Barricade  on  a  small  Island  a 
little  seperated  from  the  Island,  which  served  as  a  Platform  for  our 
Cannon.  Every  one  employed  himself  so  faithfully  that  in  a  little  time 
it  was  rendered  a  Defence  .  .  .  then  the  Sieur  De  Mons  began  to  em- 
ploy the  workmen  to  build  the  Houses  for  our  Abode  .  .  .  After  the 
Sieur  De  Mons  had  taken  the  place  for  the  Magazine,  which  was 
nine  foises  long,  and  three  broad,  and  twelve  feet  high,  he  fixed  on  the 
Plan  of  his  own  Lodging,  which  was  immediately  built  by  good  work- 
men ;  he  then  assigned  to  each  his  place  .  .  .  We  then  made  some 
Gardens,  as  well  on  the  main  Land,  as  on  tl  Island  .  .  .  The  Sieur  De 
Mons  determined  on  a  Change  of  place,  and  to  make  another  Habita- 
tion to  avoid  the  Cold  and  Evils  which  we  had  in  the  Island  S'  Croix. 
Not  having  found  any  Port  which  was  proper  for  Us  then,  and  the 
little  time  we  had  to  lodge  ourselves  and  to  build  Houses  for  that  pur- 
pose, we  caused  two  Barks  to  be  equipped,  on  which  was  laden  the  Car- 
penter's Work,  of  the  Houses  of  S^  Croix,  to  be  carried  to  Port  Royal, 
twenty  five  Leagues  from  thence,  where  we  judged  an  Abode  would  be 
more  mild  and  temperate  "  — 

In  his  Edition  of  1632,  after  the  above  Passage  where  he  mentions 
the  Latitude  and  the  Variation  of  the  Needle,  he  adds,  "  in  this  place 
was  the  Habitation  made  in  1604,"  and  then  immediately  commences 
another  Chapter  as  follows.  "  From  the  said  River  S*  Croix  &c*  ccct 
&cf." 

Bescarhot —  Edit:  1618  —  " Leaving  the  River  S^  John  they  came, 
following  the  Coast,  at  twenty  Leagues  from  thence,  into  a  great  River 
(which  is  properly  Sea)  where  they  encamped  on  a  small  Island  in  the 
Midd/e  of  it,  which  being  found  strong  by  Nature  and  of  easy  Defence, 
besides  that  the  Season  had  began  to  pass,  and  therefore  it  became  them 
to  think  how  they  were  to  be  lodged,  without  going  farther  they  resolved 
to  stay  there . . .  the  Company  staid  there  in  the  Middle  of  a  large  Rivev^ 
where  the  wind  from  the  north  and  north  west  blows  at  pleasure ;  and 
because  at  two  Leagues  above  there  are  some  Streams  which  coming 
cross-wise,  to  discharge  themselves  into  this  large  Arm  of  the  Sea,  this 
Island,  the  Retreat  of  these  French,  was  called  Sainte  Croix,  twenty 
five  Leagues  more  distant  than  Port-Royal  .  .  .  Before  we  speak  of  the 
Return  of  the  Ships  to  France,  it  becomes  Us  to  say  that  the  Island  of 
Sj  Croix  is  very  difficult  to  be  found  by  one  who  has  never  been  there ; 

2 


10 


for  there  are  so  many  Islands  and  great  Bays  to  pass  before  one  comes 
there,  that  I  am  astonished  how  any  one  had  Patience  to  penetrate  so 
far  to  go  to  find  it.     There  are  three  ov  four  Mountains,  high  above  the 
others,  on  the  Coasts,  but  on  the  north  part  from  whence  the  River 
comes  dowr,  there  is  a  pointed  one  more  than  two  Leagues  distant. 
The  woods  of  the  Main  Land  are  handsome  and  high  to  Admiration, 
and   so  is  the  Herbage.     There  are   Streams  of  fresh  Water;    very 
agreeable,  where  many  of  Lhe  People  of  the  Sieur  De  Monts  aid  their 
Work,  and  hutted  there.     As  to  the  Nature  of  the  Soil  it  is  very  good 
and  happily  fruitful ;  for  the  Sieur  De  Monts,  having  caused  a  Piece  of 
Land  to  be  cultivated  and  sown  with  Rye,  (I  have  not  seen  any  wheat 
thjre)  he  had  not  the  Means  to  attend  to  its  Maturity  to  gather  it,  the 
Grain  which  fell  had  notwithstanding  grown  and  shot  up  again  wonder- 
fully, so  that  two  Years  after  we  gathered  of  it,  as  fair,  large,  and  heavy 
as  any  in  France,  and  which  this  Soil  hath  produced  without  Culture ; 
and  at  present  it  continues  to  increase  every  Year.    The  said  Island  is 
about  half  a  French  League  in  Circuity  and  at  the  Eyid,  towards  the  Sea, 
there  is  a  Hillock,  and  as  it  were  a  separate  small  Island,  where  the  said 
Sieur  De  Monts  placed  his  Cannon,  and  there  is  also  a  small  Chapel, 
bralt  in  the  Fashion  of  the  Savages,  at  the  Foot  of  which  there  are  so 
many  Muscles  as  to  be  wonderful,  which  may  be  gathered  at  low  Water, 
but  they  are  small  .  .  .  During  the  said  Voyage  the  Sieur  De  Monts 
worked  at  his  Fort,  which  he  had  seated  at  the  End  of  the  Island,  op- 
posite to  the  place  where  we  have  said  Le  lodged  his  Cannon ;  which 
was  prudently  considered,  to  the  End  to  command  the  Biver  up  and 
down.     But  there  was  one  Inconvenience,  that  the  said  Fort  was  on 
the  Side  to  the  North  without  any  Shelter,  except  the  Trees  which  were 
on  the  Ba.ik  of  the  Island,  all  of  which  thereabout  he  had  forbid  to  be 
cut  down.    Without  the  Fort  the  Swiss  had  their  Barracks,  which  were 
large  and  ample,  and  some  small  ones  oiaking  an  Appearance  like  a 
Suburb.     Some  had  their  Huts  c  i  the  main  Land,  near  a  Stream,  but 
within  the  Fort  were  the  Lodgings  of  the  said  Sieur  De  Monts,  made 
of  fair  and  skilful  Cavpentry,  with  the  Banner  of  France  on  the  Top.. 
In  another  part  was  the  Magazine,  where  was  deposited  the  Safety  and 
Life  of  All,  also  of  good  Carpentry,  and  covered  with  Shingles,  and 
opposite  to  the  Magazine  were  the  Lougings  and  Houses  of  the  Sieur 
d'Orville,  Champlain,   Champdore.,  and  other  Persons  of  Distinction. 
Opposite  to  the  Lodgings  of  the  said  Sieur  de  Monts  was  a  covered 
Gallery  to  axercise  for  Amusement  or  for  fue  Workmen  when  it  rained, 
and  between  the  said  Fort  and  the  Platform  of  the  Cannon  all  xids  filled 
with  Gardens  .  .  .  The  severe  Season  being  passed,  the  Sieur  De  Monts, 
tired  of  his  sorrowful  Abode  of  Sainte  Croix,  dolormined  to  search  for 
another  Port,  in  a  CounSy  more  warm  and  more   to  the  south  .  .  . 
having  seen  the  Coast  of  Malebarre,  and  with  much  Labour,  without 


i 


% 


11 


t 


t 


finding  what  he  desired,  he  determined  to  go  to  Port  Royal,  to  make 
his  Stay  there,  and  wait  until  he  should  have  the  Means  to  make  a 
more  ample  Discovery ;  so  every  one  was  employed  to  bind  up  his 
Pack,  and  they  demolished  what  they  had  built  with  Infinity  of  Labour 
&c^  (fee*  &c*  "  — 

Subsequent  to  the  View  of  the  Mouths  ofthe  Rivers  in  question,  and 
the  adjacent  Objects,  by  the  Commissioners,  at  the  Instance  of  t.';e 
Agents,  in  the  Fall  of  1796,  the  Edition  of  Champlain  of  1613  was 
procured  from  Europe,  containing  a  Map  of  the  Isle  Sainte  Croix,  a 
Copy  of  which  is  annexed ;  and  a  Search  having  been  then  made,  by 
digging  into  the  Soil  of  Bone  or  Docias  Island,  Bricks,  Charcoal, 
Spikes,  and  other  Artificial  Articles,  have  been  found,  and  evident 
Foundations  of  Buildings  have  been  traced. 

Whoever  will  compare  these  Proofs  with  the  Bay  of  Passamaquaddy, 
including  the  Islands  and  Rivers  in  it,  will  perceive,  that  they  result  in 
Demonstration  that  \h.Q  Island  S*.  Croix  and  the  River  S'  Croix,  intended 
in  them,  ai'e  respectively  Bone  Island  and  the  River  Scudiac  ;  the  Mouth 
of  the  River  being  imagined  to  be  at  some  place  below  the  Island,  not- 
withstanding the  Space  between  it  and  the  Devil's  Head  is,  as  has  been 
intimated,  more  properly  an  Arm  of  the  Bai/,  or  as  L'escarbot  expresses 
himself,  Sea. 

And  here  it  would  seem  there  might  have  been  an  End  of  the  Ques- 
tion ;  but  the  Agent  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  alledged,  "  that 
Mitchell's  Map,  published  in  1755,  was  before  the  Commissioners,  who 
negociated  and  concluded  the  provisional  Treaty  of  Peace  at  Paris  in 
1782  ;  from  that  they  took  their  Ideas  of  the  Country;  upon  that  they 
marked  the  dividing  Line  between  the  two  Nations ;  and  that  by  the 
Line  marked  upon  it  their  Intention  is  well  explained  that  the  River, 
intended  by  the  Name  of  the  S*  Croix  in  the  Treaty,  was  the  eastern 
River  which  emptys  it's  Waters  into  the  Bay  of  Passamaquaddy ; "  and 
he  thereupon  offered  in  Evideuce  the  Testimony  of  the  three  American 
Commissioners,  as  contained  in  the  Depositions  of  two  of  them,  and  in 
the  Letter  from  the  other  to  M^  Secf  Jefferson  of  the  S'l*  April  1790, 
and  also  a  Map  of  Mitchell  as  the  identical  Copy  which  the  Commis- 
sioners had  before  them  at  Paris,  it  having  been  found  deposited  in 
the  Office  of  Secretary  of  State  for  the  United  States,  and  having  the 
Eastern  Boundary  of  the  United  States  tj-aced  on  it,  with  a  Pen  or 
Pencil,  through  the  Middle  of  the  River,  laid  down  as  the  S'  Croix,  to 
a  Lake,  laid  down  as  its  Source  and  named  Kousaki,  and  continued 
thence  north  as  far  as  to  where  it  was  conjectured  it  would  come  to  the 
Highlands. 

The  Agent  on  the  part  of  His  Majesty  evfepted  to  these  Proofs 
on  the  Ground  that  the  Matters,  intended  to  be  proved  by  them,  were 
not  admissable  in  Evidence ;  he  nevertheless  consented  to  their  being 


12 


received,  the  Question  on  the  Exception  being  understood  to  be  reserved 
for  the  future  Opinion  of  the  Commissioners,  if  necessary. 

Deposition  of  President  Adams  —  In  answer  to  Interrogatories  by 
the  Agent  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  he  deposed,  "  that  Mitchell's 
Map  was  the  only  Map  or  Plan  which  was  used  by  the  Commissioners 
at  their  public  Conferences,  tho'  other  Maps  were  occasionally  consulted 
by  the  American  Commissioners  at  their  Lodgings ;  the  British  Com- 
missioners at  first  claimed  to  Piscataqua  River,  then  to  Kennebeck,  then 
to  Penobscot,  and  at  length  agreed  to  S,  Croix  as  marked  on  Mitch- 
ell's Map  —  one  of  the  American  Ministers  at  first  proposed  the  River 
S|  Johns  as  marked  on  Mitchell's  Map,  but  his  Colleagues  observing, 
that  as  Saint  Croix  was  the  River  mentioned  in  the  Charter  of  Massa- 
chusett's  Bay  they  could  not  justify  insisting  on  Saint  Johns  as  an  Ulti- 
matum, he  agreed  with  them  to  adhere  to  the  Charter  of  Massachusett's 
Bay  "  —  but  in  Answer  to  the  following  Interrogatory  by  the  Commis- 
sioners, for  the  Sake  of  Explanation,  "  Whether  it  was  understood,  in- 
tended, or  agreed,  between  the  British  and  American  Commissioners 
that  the  River  Saint  Croix,  as  marked  on  Mitchell's  Map  should  so  be 
the  Boundary  as  to  preclude  all  Enquiry  respecting  any  Error  or  Mistake 
in  the  said  Map  in  designating  the  River  Saint  Croix  ;  or  whether  there 
was  any,  and  if  so  what,  Understanding,  Intent,  or  Agreement  between 
the  Commissioners  relative  to  the  Case  of  Error  or  Mistake  in  this  respect 
in  the  said  Map  ?  "  —  he  further  deposed,  "  that  the  Case  of  such  sup- 
posed Error  or  Mistake  was  nc*^^  suggested,  and  consequently  there  was 
no  Understanding,  Intent,  or  Agreement  expressed  respecting  it." 

Gov^  Jay's  Deposition  —  he  deposed,  "  that  in  the  Course  of  the 
Negociations  Difficulties  arose  respecting  the  eastern  Boundary  of  the 
United  States ;  Mitchell's  Map  was  before  them  and  frequently  con- 
sulted for  Geographical  Information.  In  settling  the  Boundary  Lines 
(described  in  the  Treaty),  and  of  which  the  River  Sf  Croix  forms  a 
part,  it  became  a  Question  which  of  the  Rivers  in  those  parts  was  the 
true  River  S'  Croix  ?,  it  being  said  that  several  of  them  had  that  Name  ; 
that  .-iiey  did  finally  agree  that  the  River  S'  Croix,  laid  down  in  Mitch- 
ell's Map,  was  the  River  S!  Croix  which  ought  to  form  a  part  of  the 
said  Boundary  Line ;  but  whether  that  River  was  so  decidedly  and 
permanently  adopted  and  agreed  upon  by  the  Parties  as  conclusively 
to  bind  the  two  Nations  to  that  Limit,  even  in  Case  it  should  after- 
wards appear  that  Mitchell  had  been  mistaken  and  that  the  true  River 
S'  Croix  was  a  different  one  from  that  which  is  delineated  by  that  Name 
in  his  Map,  is  a  Question,  or  a  Case,  which  he  did  not  recollect  nor 
believe  was  then  put  or  talked  of;  for  his  own  part  he  was  of  Opinion, 
that  the  eastern  Boundaries  of  the  United  States  ought,  on  Principles 
of  Right  and  Justice,  to  be  *he  same  with  the  easterly  Boundaries  of 
the  late  Colony  or  Province  of  Massachusetts." 


13 


it. 


D\  Franklin^ s  Letter  —  "I  received  Your  Letter  of  the  21*'  past, 
relating  to  the  Encroachments  made  on  the  eastern  Limits  of  the 
United  States,  by  Settlers,  under  the  British  Government,  pretending 
that  it  is  the  western,  and  not  the  eastern,  River,  of  the  Bay  of  Passa- 
maquaddy,  which  was  designated  by  the  Name  of  Sj  Croix,  in  the 
Treaty  of  Peace  with  that  Nation,  and  requesting  Me  to  communicate 
any  Facts,  which  my  Memory  or  Papers  may  enable  Me  to  recollect, 
and  which  may  indicate  the  true  River  the  Commissioners  had  in  View 
to  establish  as  the  Boundary  between  the  two  Nations ;  I  can  assure 
You  I  am  perfectly  clear  in  the  Remembrance,  that  the  Map  we  used, 
in  tracing  the  Boundary  between  the  two  Nations,  was  brought  to  the 
Treaty  by  the  Commissioners  from  England,  and  that  it  was  the  same 
that  was  published  by  Mitchell  above  twenty  Years  before.  That  the 
Map  we  used  was  Mitchell's  Map,  Congress  were  acquainted  at  the 
time,  by  a  Letter  to  their  Secretary  for  foreign  Affairs  which  I  sup- 
pose may  be  found  on  their  Files." 

A  Copy  of  Mitchell's  Map  is  annexed,  and  the  Copy,  produced  in 
Evidence,  had  on  it  the  above  mentioned  Line  traced  with  a  Pen  or 
Pencil^  as  stated  by  the  Agent  for  the  United  States. 

On  these  Proofs,  waiving  the  Exception  to  them,  it  will  suffice  to 
remark,  —  that  a  Boundary  Line,  which  Mitchell  has  in  his  Map,  is  the 
only  Indication  of  the  River  he  intended  by  the  S|  Croix ;  his  Intent  or 
Mind  in  this  respect  not  being  to  be  discovered  from  the  relative  Situa- 
tion of  the  River,  or  of  the  Lake  laid  down  as  its  Source  or  from  the 
Course  or  Length  of  the  River,  or  the  Form  or  Magnitude  of  the  Lake, 
or  indeed  from  the  supposed  Representations,  as  they  appear  on  the 
Map,  of  any  Objects  whatever,  the  Map  being,  as  to  the  Bay  of  Passa- 
maquarldy  and  the  Rivers  issuing  into  it,  and  which  will  be  manifest  by 
comparing  it  with  the  one  annexed  from  actual  Survey,  erroneous  or 
imperfect  in  the  Extreme  —  that  the  Boundary  Line  above  alluded 
to  is  a  pricked  Line  drawn  along  the  western  side  of  the  River  S?  Croix 
to  the  Lake  as  its  Source,  and  thence  round  along  the  southerly  and 
westerly  Sides,  and  so  far  along  the  northerly  Side,  of  the  Lake,  until 
it  comes  to  the  most  northerly  part  of  it,  and  then  it  is  "  direct  towards 
the  north  "  to  the  River  S'.  Barnabas,  being  "  the  nearest  Rivek  discharg' 
ing  itself  into  the  great  River  of  Canada  ;  "  —  that  this  Line  was  cer- 
tainly intended  to  represent  what  was  deemed,  at  the  time,  to  be  the 
Boundary  of  Nova  Scotia  from  the  Mouth  of  the  S'  Croix  to  the  S'. 
Lawrence  —  and  therefore  that  the  Map,  and  the  other  Proofs  con- 
nected with  it,  instead  of  being  of  any  Avail  to  the  Party  exhibiting 
them,  are  in  Confirmation  of  the  very  Principle  of  the  Claim  of  the 
opposite  Party,  namely,  that  the  River  intended  in  the  Treaty  of  1783 
18  the  River  intended  in  the  Grant  for  Nova  Scotia;  the  Reasoning 
from  them  being  briefly,  that  the  Commissioners  at  Paris  intended  the 


14 


River  intended  by  Mitchell,  and  that  he  intended  the  River  intended  in 
the  Grant  for  Nova  Scotia. 

The  Proposition  of  Fact  above  stated  being  thus  proved,  the  Com- 
missioners, on  the  25'!*  Octof  1798,  decided  that  the  Scudiac  was  the 
River  truly  intended  under  the  Name  of  the  River  S'.  Croix  in  the 
Treaty  of  1783;  and  it  being  expressed  in  the  Treaty  of  1794,  "  that 
the  Declaration  of  the  Decision  should  contain  a  Description  of  the 
River,  and  particularize  the  Latitude  and  Longitude  of  its  Mouth  and 
its  Source,"  they  were  held,  in  addition  to  the  principal  Question, 
Which  was  the  River,  as  to  be  distinguished  from  the  Magaguadavic 
and  every  other  River  ?,  to  decide  likewise  which  of  the  Branches  was 
the  main  Branch  and  as  such  the  River  or  Trunks  and  where  its 
Source  should  be  deemed  to  be ;  it  is  therefore  to  be  further  stated  — 
that  when  the  River  was  assumed,  as  a  Boundary  in  the  Grant  for 
Nova  Scotia,  there  was  no  Knowledge  of  it,  at  least  from  the  Falls  in  it 
upwards,  except  what  had  been  communicated  to  the  French  Colonists 
by  the  aboriginal  Indians,  as  found  in  the  above  Extract  from  Cham- 
plain,  and  which  amounts  to  no  more,  than  that  there  were  Portages 
from  it  to  the  Norembeque,  supposed  to  be  the  Penobscot,  and  to  the 
Sf  John,  and  doubtless  understood  to  be,  the  one  from  the  western,  and 
the  other  from  the  northern,  Branch  —  that,  previous  to  the  Occasion 
of  the  present  Reference,  there  never  has  been  a  Survey  of  the  River, 
that  the  adjacent  Country  still  remains  unsettled  and  almost  unfre- 
quented, and  consequently  that  the  Case  was  wholly  destitute  of  the 
Evidence  of  the  Intention  of  Parties,  and  also  of  such  as  might  have 
arisen  from  Reputation  by  others,  to  govern  or  aid  in  determining  either 
the  place  of  the  Source  of  the  River  or  which  of  the  two  Branches  was 
the  main  Branch  —  that  these  Branches  are  nearly  of  the  same  Mag- 
nitude and  Rapidity  at  their  Confluence  —  that  the  Head-waters  of  them 
are  a  Collection  of  Lakes,  a  number  of  them,  in  some  Instances  more 
and  in  others  less,  forming  a  Series  connected  together  by  Streights 
from  the  one  to  the  other,  and  —  that  hence  the  Ditficulties  may  easily 
be  conceived  which  occurred  in  deciding  between  the  Branches,  and 
where  the  Source  of  the  Branch  which  might  be  decided  to  be  the 
main  Branch,  should  be  deemed  to  be ;  and  especially  whether  at  the 
first,  or  at  the  most  remote,  Lake  in  a  Series  —  The  latter  was  the  Rule 
adopted  by  the  Commissioners  —  They  decided  that  the  Mouth  of  the 
River  was  at  Ive's  Point;  that  the  Northern  Branch  was  the  main 
Branch  or  River,  and  continuing  it  through  the  several  Lakes  and  the 
Streights  connecting  them  in  a  Series,  which  extended  to  the  greatest 
Distance,  that  its  Source  was  at  a  Place  for  that  purpose  particularized 
ill  the  Declaration  as  the  Source  of  a  Stream  issuing  into  the  most 
remote  Lake. 

There  is  still  a  Question  concerning  the  Boundary  between  the  two 


I 


15 

Nations  in  that  Quarter,  but  as  it  partakes  of  the  Nature  of  an  omitted 
Case,  iu  respect  to  the  Reference  under  the  Treaty  of  1794,  can  be 
settled  only  by  Negociation  and  Compact. 

The  Treaty  of  1783  supposes  the  River  S*  Croix  to  issue  immediately 
into  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  and  it  intended  that  the  two  Nations  should 
equally  participate  in  the  Navigation  of  the  River  ;  the  Question  then 
is,  How  is  the  Boundary  in  the  intermediate  Space  between  where  the 
Mouth  of  the  Sf  Croix  hath  been  decided  to  be  and  the  Bay  of  Fundy, 
to  be  established  most  consistent  with  the  Intent  of  the  Treaty  ?  —  In 
answer  to  which  it  may  be  suggested,  that  the  Boundary  should  be  a 
Line  from  the  Mouth  of  the  River,  passing  through  the  Bay  of  Passa- 
maquaddy  and  one  of  the  Passages  from  it  into  the  Bay  of  Fundy,  that 
the  west  Passage  being  unfit  for  the  purpose,  having  a  Bar  across  it 
which  is  dry  at  low  water,  the  next  to  it  must  be  taken,  and  the  Line 
may  be  described,  Beginning  in  the  Middle  of  the  Channel  of  the  River 
Sf  Croix  at  its  Mouth,  thence  direct  to  the  Middle  of  the  Channel  between 
Point  Pleasant  and  Beer,  thence  through  the  Middle  of  the  Channel  be- 
tween Beer  Island  on  the  East  and  North,  and  Moose  Island  and  Campo- 
bello  Island  on  the  west  and  south,  and  round  the  eastern  Point  of 
Campo-bello  Island  to  the  Bag  of  Fundy. 

The  Commissioners  were  Thomas  Barclay  of  the  Province  of  Nova 
Scotia,  David  Howell  of  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  and  Egbert  Benson 
of  the  State  of  New  York. 

The  aforegoing  was  prepared  and  one  Copy  furnished  to  the  President 

of  the  United  States  and  another  to  the  American  Minister  in  London, 

and  this  remaining  Copy  is  presented  to  The  Massachusetts  Historical 

Society ;  because,  if  it  is  to  be  preserved,  it  can  no  where  be  so  eligibly 

deposited  as  iu  their  Collection. 

E.  B. 


I 


Mr.  WiNSOR  further  said  that  in  some  investigations  which 
he  had  recently  made  respecting  the  maps  used  in  determining 
questions  arising  under  the  interpretation  of  the  language  em- 
ployed in  the  Treaty  of  1783  respecting  the  bounds  of  Maine, 
he  had  hit  upon  the  evidence,  never  before  satisfactorily  deter- 
m-rjd,  that  the  famous  red  line  on  the  map  discovered  by 
Spar..s  was  the  equivalent  of  such  lines  which  long  ante- 
dated the  Treaty  of  1783.  This  was  indeed  divined  by  Sena- 
tor Benton  and  others  during  the  debates  upon  the  Ashburton 
Treaty,  but  it  was  not  established  by  evidence.  Long  before 
the  conclusion  of  the  negotiations  the  United  States  Govern- 


16 

ment  had  selected  from  the  maps  in  Harvard  College  Library- 
such  as  were  considered  of  use  in  the  discussion ;  and  these 
identical  maps,  marked  as  numbered  in  Gallatin's  lists,  are 
now  in  the  College  Library.  The  bugbear  of  the  Red-line 
map  not  having  then  arisen,  the  maps  in  the  same  collection 
which  would  have  quieted  the  apprehensions  of  Sparks  and 
Webster  were  naturally  overlooked.  It  may  be  recalled  that 
Mr.  Sparks  discovered  in  the  French  Archives,  in  1841,  a  note 
from  Franklin  to  Vergennes,  which  referred  to  a  map,  sent  to 
that  minister,  upon  which  Franklin  had  marked  with  a  strong 
red  line  the  bounds  which  had  been  agreed  upon  under  the 
provisional  articles.  With  the  expectation  of  finding  this 
map.  Sparks  turned  to  the  map  collection  of  the  same  ar- 
chives, and  discovered  a  small  map  by  D'Anville,  dated  1746, 
on  which,  in  following  the  bounds  of  the  revolted  Colonies, 
there  was  a  line  of  red  pigment  which  kept  the  highlands 
across  Maine  south  of  the  St.  John  nearly  as  the  British 
claimed  that  it  should  run,  but  having  a  direction  rather 
more  favorable  to  the  British  than  their  claim.  At  a  little 
later  day  the  British  Government  sent  an  agent  to  the  Paris 
Archives  to  find  the  map  which  Sparks  described,  and  Brougham 
in  his  speech  in  Parliament  at  the  time  sa,ys  Lord  Granville's 
agent  failed  to  find  it;  but  according  to  Mr.  Lewis  J.  Jennings, 
in  his  "Correspondence  of  John  Wilson  Croker"  (London,  1884, 
vol.  i.  pp.  395,  400,  403),  another  map  was  found  with  a  similar 
red  line  which  favored  the  American  claim.^  At  the  time  of 
the  finding  of  the  map  favoring  the  American  claim,  the  season 
had  passed  in  which  it  was  of  use  to  declare  that  this  last  map 
was  the  true  Franklin  map  ;  and  in  the  absence  of  any  knowl- 
edge of  it,  Mr.  Sparks  came  to  the  belief  that  his  red-line  map 
might  well  be,  or  at  least  might  possibly  be,  the  one  referred  to 
by  Franklin.     He  brought  home  a  copy  of  it,  and  sent  it  with  a 


^  Sir  Robert  Peel  is  credited  with  acknowledging  that  the  agent  did  eventually 
find  tlie  Sparks  map  (N.  Y.  Hist.  Soc.  Free.  1843,  p.  71). 


17 


; 


letter  to  Mr.  Webster  ("Webster's  Works,  vol.  ii.  p.  143  ;  Maine 
Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,  vol.  viii.  p.  96)  sug^gesting  its  importance.     It 
was  alleged  in  the  secret  debates  of  the  Senate  upon  the  ratifica- 
tion of  the  treaty  (Benton's  Debates,  vol.  xiv.  p.  546,  etc.),  that 
Mr.  Webster  had  used  this  map  to  force  the  consent  of  the  Com- 
missioners of  Maine  to  the  treaty,  and  had  held  it  up  to  Sena- 
tors as  dangerous  evidence  in  case  a  new  negotiation  should 
become  necessary  by  the  failure  of  the  present.     It  is  curious 
to  observe  that  Webster,  after  he  had  got  the  letter  and  map 
from  Sparks,  wrote  to  Mr.  Everett,  then  our  minister  in  Eng- 
land, and  without  letting  him  into  the  secret,  cautioned  him 
"  against  pressing  the  search  after  maps  in  England  and  else- 
where," plainly  out  of  fear  that  the  Sparks  map  might  be  re- 
discovered (Curtis's  Webster,  vol.  ii.  p.  103).     Senator  Benton 
and  others  who  opposed  the  treaty  in   the   Senate  debates, 
explained  away  the  Sparks  map  by  assuming  that  the  line 
belonged  to  the  date  of  the  map  (1746)  and  not  to  the  date  of 
the   treaty   (1782),   and  that  it  represented  an  old  French 
claim  for  the  bounds  of  Canada  upon  Maine  and  Sagadahock. 
They  brought  no  evidence  to  determine  this  beyond  that  of  a 
map  later  than  the  treaty,  which  had  a  similar  colored  line, 
while  a  pricked  uncolored  line  on  the  same  map  accorded 
with  the  American  claim  in  following  the  highlands  north  of 
the  St.  John.     That  this  uncolored  line  did  not  prove  an  offset 
to  the  colored  line  was  owing  to  the  absence  of  any  legend 
explaining  the  lines.      Accordingly  the  Sparks  map  has  not 
ceased  to  be  put  forward  in  discussions  of  the  subject  even  to 
a  very  recent  day.     The  usual  argument  against  its  evidence 
has  been  simply  that  it  could  not  be  the  map  referred  to  by 
Franklin,  because  all  other  testimony  respecting  the  line  en- 
tertained by  the  American  Commissioners,  and  even  by  the 
English  Commissioners,  was  not  in  accord.    This  seems  evident 
from  the  fact  that  the  claim  as  formulated  by  the  British  was 
not  fairly  presented  till  some  time  had  passed,  namely,  in  1815  ; 
but  it  is  at  the  same  time  a  striking  concomitant  that  when 


■'.W-l'  '.1W?-*^MJ* 


18 

it  was  first  brought  forward,  Adams  and  Jay  were  both  living, 
and  so  far  as  any  record  now  exists  failed  to  make  any  protest 
against  it. 

In  Canada  it  has  been  almost  universally  held,  by  writers  on 
the  Ashburton  Treaty,  that  the  concessions  made  by  England 
were  a  surrender.  This  is  seen  in  such  essays  as  Coffin's 
"Quirks  of  Diplomacy,"  and  Dent's  "Last  Forty  Years  of 
Canada  ;  "  but  Sir  Francis  Hincks,  in  a  tract  which  he  pub- 
lished at  Montreal  in  1885,  on  "  The  Boundaries  formerly  in 
Dispute  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,"  apolo- 
getically defended  the  American  claim,  and  disposed  of  the 
Sparks  map  as  simply  a  deceit  practised  by  Franklin  upon 
Vergennes. 

What  Senator  Benton  divined  was  in  reality  the  case,  though 
Sparks,  in  an  article  on  the  Treaty  of  Washington,  which  he 
printed  in  the  "North  American  Review"  in  April,  1843, 
undertook  to  say  that  the  line  of  the  so-called  Franklin  map 
had  "  no  connection  whatever  with  any  old  boundary  of 
Canada."  But  Sparks  was  mistaken.  The  maps  for  a  long 
period  before  the  Treaty  of  1782-1783  had  had  two  lines  of 
demarcation  across  the  present  State  of  Maine,  according  as 
they  represented  French  claims  or  showed  those  of  England. 
The  English  maps  without  exception  gave  the  bounds  of  Mas- 
sachusetts as  north  of  the  St.  John  ;  and  it  was  this  line, 
according  to  the  understanding  of  the  American  Commission- 
ers at  least,  that  they  were  to  engraft  in  the  Treaty  of  1782. 
This  is  undeniably  the  line  given  in  all  the  maps  published  in 
England  during  the  progress  of  the  Treaty  of  1782-1783,  as 
shown  in  those  of  Sayer  and  Bennet,  Bew,  Willis,  and  Cary, 
not  to  name  very  many  others.  The  French  maps  gave  a  line 
south  of  the  St.  John  valley,  varying  more  or  less  from  time 
to  time,  but  throwing  into  Canada  all  north  of  the  English  set- 
tlements, even  if  they  did  not  include  these  settlements  wholly 
or  in  part.  The  direction  of  the  line  as  given  in  the  small 
D'Anville  map,  found  by  Sparks,  was  just  one  of  these  French 


T 


T 


19 

claims ;  and  we  have  the  history  of  it  in  cer  lin  maps,  begin- 
ning with  the  larger  D'Anville  map  of  the  ^ame  year  as  the 
small  D'Anville  map  (1746)  which  Sparks  found,  and  of  this 
larger  map  Sparks  seems  to  have  had  no  knowledge.  On  this 
larger  map  the  line  across  Maine  is  given  in  a  dotted  line, 
which  carries  it  back  to  the  date  of  the  engraving  of  the  map 
itself. 

The  same  dotted  line  is  repeated  in  a  Venice  edition  of 
D'Anville  published  in  1776.  We  find  it  again  in  a  revised 
edition  of  Delisle's  Canada,  published  in  Paris  in  1783,  and 
once  more  in  1784  in  a  French  map,  which  Benton  cited  in 
the  debates  of  the  Senate  upon  the  Treaty  of  1842,  and  which 
bore  upon  it  a  dedication  to  Franklin  himself,  and  professed 
to  emanate  from  the  Government  map-oifice  and  to  show  the 
lines  of  the  treaty  then  newly  made.  There  is  need  of  look- 
ing at  these  French  maps  with  a  good  deal  of  scrutiny,  and 
with  a  full  recognition  of  the  spirit  which  was  animating  Ver- 
gennes  at  this  time.  It  must  be  observed  that  this  French 
map  of  1784  gives  by  a  dotted  engraved  line  the  bounds  along 
the  highlands  as  claimed  by  the  Americans,  while  the  bounds 
as  claimed  later  by  the  British  are  marked  by  a  line  of  pigment.^ 
When  we  bear  in  mind  the  unconcealed  purpose  of  the  French 
Court  to  curtail  wherever  they  could  the  bounds  of  the  new 
republic,  and  particularly  to  flank  it  effectively  on  the  side  of 
Canada,  we  need  not  be  at  a  loss  to  understand  the  carto- 
graphical devices  of  so  wily  a  diplomatist  as  Vergennes  in  an 
attempt  to  resuscitate  an  old  French  line  as  being  that  which 
had  been  decided  upon.  The  fact  is  that  this  French  minister 
was  the  real  instigator  of  the  British  claim,  having  an  ulterior 
purpose,  and  acting  in  anticipation  of  the  time  when  France 
might  repossess  Canada  ;  and  the  further  fact  is  that  the  Red- 
line  map  which  threw  such  consternation  into  the  councils  of 


1  Sparks  likewise  cites  a  copy  of  Mitcliell's  map  which  had  belonged  to  Baron 
Steuben,  on  which  a  painted  boundary  line  was  equally  favorable  to  the  English 
claim. 


^I'^^WiUaHR*^ 


20 

Webster  in  1842  was  but  the  expression  of  this  same  ulterior 
and  sinister  purpose  of  Vergennes.     Precisely  what  this  old 
French  line  was,  can  now  be  demonstrated,  though  the  evidence 
seems  hitherto  to  have  escaped  notice.     There  was  issued  in 
Paris  in  1755  a  "  Carte  des  possessions  Angloises  et  Frangoises," 
which  had  alternative  lines  as  marking  the  French  claims  to 
the  lands  of  Maine.     One  of  these  lines  gave  to  Canada  all 
east  of  the  Penobscot  stretching  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  but  it 
followed  west  of  the  Penobscot  mainly  the  height  of  land  in 
which  that  river  and  the  Kennebec  found  their  sources.     The 
other  claim  continued  this  highland  line  in  an  easterly  direction, 
till  it  struck  the  gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  at  Baye  Verte,  thus  cut- 
ting off  the  southern  English  settlements  in  Maine  and  ac- 
cording substantially  with  the  line  later  claimed  by  the  British. 
Both  of  these  alternative  lines  were  marked  on  this  map  of 
1755.     The  plate  of  this  map  four  years  later  (1759)   was 
transferred  to  London,  and  the  map  was  there  reissued  as  "  A 
Map  of  the  British  and  French  Dominion  in  North  America, 
by  J.  Palairet,  improved  by  J.  Rocque."     This  edition  of  the 
map  has  an  engraved  legend,  reading  as  follows  :  "  The  red  line 
drawn  from  Lake  Ontario  to  Baye  Verte  shows  another  claim 
of  the  French  north  of  the  English  Settlements,  to  the  River 
St.  Lawrence."    Here  we  have  the  explanation  of  the  line  which 
in  the  maps  of  the  French  before  the  Peace  of  1782  preserved 
an  old  claim,  and  in  their  maps  after  1782  was  used  to  give 
grounds  for   the   curtailment  of  the   American   bounds,  and 
was  so  readily  adopted  by  the  English  geographer  Faden  in 
1785,  after  he  had  already  in  1783  published  a  map  favoring 
the  American  claim,  and  equally  deceived  Giissefeld  in  1784 
in  a  map   which  he  published  at  Nuremberg.     More  honest 
maps,  both  French  and  German,  like  Tardieu's  in  Paris  and 
Reichard's  in  Nuremberg,  continued,  however,  to  favor  the 
American  claim.     This  map  of  the  French  royal  geographer  in 
1784,  copied  by  the  English  royal  geographer  in  1785,  repre- 
sents the  hint  given  by  Vergennes  to  England  for  a  curtail- 


ii 


I 

ii 


21 

ment  of  the  new  republic  in  a  part  of  the  described  bounds, 
which  could  be  diversely  interpreted,  and  the  English  official 
acceptance  of  the  hint.  Events  which  turned  the  attention 
of  the  English  Government  away  from  the  question  of  bounds 
caused  the  seed  which  Vergennes  had  sown  to  lie  without  ger- 
mination till  the  experience  of  the  War  of  1812  made  it  for 
the  interest  of  England  to  formulate  their  claim  for  the  lower 
highlands. 

There  are  indications  going  to  show  that  thirty  years  ago 
there  was  in  existence  a  map  which  was  described  as  one  in 
which  Franklin,  jointly  with  Hartley,  the  English  negotiator  of 
the  Definitive  Treaty,  had  marked  the  bounds  as  agreed  upon. 
A  catalogue  of  a  sale  of  manuscripts  in  London  April  6,  1859, 
embraced  papers  which  seemingly  came  from  the  estate  of  Da- 
vid Hartley,  and  disclosed  a  large  number  of  papers  respecting 
the  Treaty  of  1783,  arranged  by  Hartley,  and  included  such  a 
map  as  has  been  mentioned.  Though  the  date  of  the  sale  is 
so  recent,  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  the  final  disposition  of 
the  map,  nor  does  the  sale  of  it  seem  to  have  been  within  the 
cognizance  of  the  three  or  four  people  most  likely  to  have 
known  of  it.  I  do  not  find  that  the  London  Athenieum  records 
any  such  sale.  It  would  seem  from  the  "  Index  "  of  the  MSS. 
in  the  British  Museum,  published  in  1880,  that  the  correspond- 
ence, in  part  at  least,  of  Franklin  and  Hartley  at  this  sale 
passed  in;:o  that  library  (pp.  586,  697,  no.  23206,  fol.  77 ;  no. 
24321,  fol.  4)  ;  and  certain  of  the  copies  of  the  Hartley  papers 
on  the  negotiation  probably  fell  into  the  hands  of  Joseph  Sabin, 
as  Mr.  John  Bigelow  informs  me  that  Mr.  Sabin  at  one  time 
possessed  such  a  collection  of  copies.^ 

1  Mr.  Winsor  has  since  received  a  letter  from  General  Charles  B.  Norton 
(Boston,  Oct.  30, 1887)  in  wliieli  lie  says :  "  I  purchased  the  Hartley  papers  at  the 
sale  in  1859.  I  offered  the  collection  to  the  State  Department  in  1860,  and  a  bill 
was  offered  in  Congress  for  their  purcliase.  At  that  time  I  struck  off  a  circular 
of  four  pages,  giving  an  analysis  of  their  contents,  which  was  sent  to  all  histori- 
cal societies  and  libraries.  The  papers  were  in  a  black  walnut  case,  and  the 
map  with  thera.    Long  articles  appeared  in  the  '  Tribune '  and  tlie  ' Post'  at  the 


22 

The  catalogue  defines  this  map  as  follows:  — 

No.  83.  "The  original  map  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
sketched  by  Benjamin  Franklin  and  H.  B.  M.  plenipotentiary  David 
Hartley,  in  Paris,  in  1783.  This  most  important  document  possesses 
historical  and  national  interest,  and  marks  the  agreed  boundaries  and 
proposed  western  States." 

If  we  are  left  in  ignorance  of  this  map  with  its  joint  attesta- 
tion, there  is  a  map  of  the  highest  authority  which  does  exist 
and  which  supports  the  American  claim.  This  is  a  Mitchell 
map  of  1755  (known  to  have  been  the  one  used  by  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  treaty,  as  acknowledged  on  both  sides)  which 
has  in  several  places  written  along  the  line,  in  the  hand- 
writing (as  asserted  by  Brougham)  of  George  III.,  the  words 
"  Boundary  as  described  by  Mr.  Oswald."  That  it  was  not  a 
line  drawn  by  Oswald  in  the  early  part  of  the  negotiations 
and  rejected  by  the  English  Government  (as  shown  in  the  map 
in  Fitzraaurice's  "  Life  of  Shelborne,"  vol.  iii.  p.  294),  appears 
from  the  fact  that  this  map,  diflering  from  the  map  found 
among  Jay's  papers,  includes  the  rectifications  made  by  Strachey 
after  he  was  sent  over  by  the  British  Government  to  strengthen 
Oswald's  hands.  This  is  sufiicient  to  establish  this  "  Oswald 
line  "  as  the  line  of  the  Definitive  Treaty,  and  it  is  easy  to  show 
that  Strachey  and  Oswald  agreed  upon  a  line  to  be  run  in 
the  upper  part  of  Maine.  It  may  be  observed,  in  passing,  that 
Mr.  Webster,  in  writing  to  Mr.  Everett  (April  25,  1843)  after 
the  close  of  the  Treaty  of  1842,  was  so  ill  a;formed  regarding 
this  map  that  he  speaks  of  it  and  of  the  Ja"  i  i^:r  as  shov.ing 
bounds  precisely  identical ;  and  that  Mr.  Curtis  in  his  "  Life 
of  Webster  "  (vol.  ii.  p.  168)  has  allowed  the  statement  to  pass 
without  comment. 


tims.  During  niy  absence  with  the  army  the  collection  was  sold  to  a  Mr.  Hartley 
of  the  '/reR,::\:.ry  Department.  He  has  since  died  ;  and  at  the  sale  of  his  library 
ttKi  papijis  were  doubtless  purchased  by  Joseph  Sabin,  of  New  York."  Thia 
map  has  since  been  traced  to  the  collection  of  Mr.  L.  Z.  Leiter  in  Washington. 
It  iii  a  rude  manuscript  dniught. 


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28 

Now,  this  map  in  the  American  interests,  as  attested  by 
their  most  inveterate  opponent,  the  King  himself,  was  among 
that  monarch's  maps  turned  over  to  the  British  Museum  at  his 
death  ;  but  before  the  negotiations  began  in  1842,  it  had  been 
withdrawn  from  that  phice  of  public  access  and  assigned  to  the 
seclusion  of  the  Foreign  Office  in  London,  if  we  may  believe  Lord 
Brougham's  asseverations  in  Parliament.  If  we  may  believe 
similar  evidence,  it  was  known  to  Featherstonhaugh  when  he 
was  sent  over  in  1838-1839  to  work  up  the  British  theory  of  the 
lower  line  of  the  highlands  below  the  St.  John  ;  but  as  if  not 
to  weaken  the  spirit  of  Ashburton,  he  was  sent  to  America,  as 
he  acknowledges  in  a  letter  to  Webster  at  a  later  date  (Curtis's 
Webster,  vol.  ii.  p.  168),  without  being  let  into  the  secret  of 
it,^  and  did  not  know  of  it  till  the  exigencies  of  securing  an 
approval  of  the  treaty  in  Parliament  against  its  assailants 
induced  Sir  Robert  Peel  to  bring  the  map  forward  and  use  it 
in  the  same  way  that  Webster  was  charged  with  using  the 
Sparks  map  in  the  secret  sessions  of  the  American  Senate. 
We  learn  this  from  Brougham's  speech  (published  in  London, 
1843).  We  also  know  that  Lord  Aberdeen  subsequently  gave 
Edward  Everett,  then  our  minister,  a  view  of  it,  as  his  despatch 
of  March  31, 1843,  shows.  Everett,  in  his  oration  at  the  dedi- 
cation of  the  Webster  statue  in  Boston,  says  that  Peel  and 
Aberdeen  told  him  that  they  were  in  ignorance  of  this  Oswald 
map  till  after  the  treaty  was  signed.  This  want  of  knowl- 
edge was  at  best  a  convenient  one ;  for  the  ministry  of  Lord 
Melbourne  had,  as  Brougham  tells  us,  certainly  known  of  it, 
and  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  the  traditions  of  the  Foreign 
Office  were  not  preserved  among  the  subordinates  of  the  min- 
istry, if  it  was  by  them  adroitly  kept  from  the  heads  of  the 
government. 

As  if  to  perplex  the  matter  beyond  endurance,  a  map  in 
1841,  said  to  be  a  Mitchell  map  of  1755,  was  found  by  Mr. 

1  His  Government  did,  however,  take  care  to  supply  him  with  a  copy  of  the 
Faden  map  of  1785,  which  supported  their  claim. 


V 


24 


Lemon  in  the  Record  Office  in  London,  which  showed  a  red 
line  —  this  time  professedly  faint  —  which  was  run  in  accord- 
ance with  the  British  claim.  An  attempt  was  made  at  the 
time  to  connect  it  with  Oswald ;  but  the  map  of  King  George 
III.,  already  referred  to,  gave  it  little  chance  of  commending 
itself  to  the  attention  of  anybody,  and  Fitzmaurice  (Shelburne, 
vol.  iii.  p.  324)  says  there  was  no  proof  deduced. 


I !'  i 


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II 


